Good Morning. 🙂

Yesterday we enjoyed another winter snow storm.

We were speaking for a little church in Cushing, Minnesota.  As we drove through the storm to get there, I was reminded how very little I have control over.  God is directing, even the seasons, in His perfect time.

Only 3 families braved the snow to come to church, but it was still a good day.  Our girls were singing for the congregation, and with so few people there it was a good reminder that regardless of whether anyone else is listening, above all they sing for God.

A sweet lady we’ve known for years, who is an organic dairy farmer/chicken lover, sent us home with 7 dozen farm fresh, beautiful eggs!  Yum!!

Afterward, we enjoyed a delicious lunch and afternoon of fellowship with the Pastor and his wife.

How was your weekend?

Well, we began exploring Galations, Chapter one this week.  I used the NASV, Amplified Version and  IVP Bible Background Commentary for the New Testament in my studies.  I found the historical commentary particularly interesting.  It explains cultural nuances and traditions of the time, which brings a richer understanding of Paul’s tone in this letter.

Galations and the Thessalonians are thought to be the first of Paul’s letters. Written shortly after AD 49, Galations is unique in that it is written to churches in more than one city. It is unknown whether he addressed the Northern or Southern Galatia region. He would have been addressing different cities, depending on this detail.

Historical Commentaries explain Paul’s letter did not open with the usual cultural complimentary praise. Instead he opens with an unmistakable rebuke.

My Notes:

vs. 1, 2– A short introduction, which also defends his authority as an apostle; this is important since his letter confronts the counterfeit doctrine which had been bought to Galatia by false teachers.

vs.3,4– Adaptation of a standard Jewish greeting.

vs.6– Paul dives right in, historians say, with what is a harsh, direct rebuke–one that would have left his readers with no doubt that he was upset. They were turning to a different gospel than what Paul had taught them.

vs.7– False teachers have tried to distort the gospel {turn it into something it’s not}.

vs. 8,9– Paul says that anyone who would present a false gospel to the Galations should be cursed {to destruction}.

vs. 10– Paul’s goal is to please only God, not man.

vs. 11, 12– Paul goes on to present his credentials as an apostle. Paul was not a disciple of Christ’s apostles {which would have been expected} and therefore receive the gospel through tradition by their teaching. Instead, he was a direct apostle of Christ– Jesus’s appearance to Paul on the road to Damascus led to his conversion; Jesus himself was Paul’s teacher and gave him the gospel through divine revelation.

Paul gives his testimony and we learn more about what happened between his conversion and the beginning of his ministry to the Gentiles.

vs. 13– Paul had persecuted the church and tried to destroy it.

vs. 14–A rabbinical student, he was advancing in his studies.

vs. 15, 16– God had set Paul apart for service, even from birth. He brought him to salvation {on the road to Damascus}.

vs. 17-20– He went directly to Damascus in Arabia, and 3 years later he went to Jerusalem to met Peter and stayed with him for 15 days. While there he met James, the brother of Jesus, but no other apostles.

vs. 21– Then Paul went to Syria and Cilicia.

vs. 22, 23, 24– The churches in Judea had not seen him yet, but they heard of his change of heart–from persecuting them to preaching the gospel himself, and they praised God because of him.

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“And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.  And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.”  1 John 5:14-15

How can I use these observations to pray according to God’s will?

Pray:

*That we, God’s church, will hold fast and remain faithful to the gospel.

*That God will give us wisdom and understanding to discern false teaching, no matter how great or small.

*That we will truly care only for pleasing God, and that the Holy Spirit will reveal any areas of our lives where we may be regarding idols {anything as more important than pleasing God}.

Thank you for joining me and praying with me!  God bless you this week!

Galations, Chapter 2

Galations, Chapter 3

Galations, Chapter 4